For some archers, arrow building is the only way to go. They enjoy the idea of crafting their own arrows and letting them fly. Archery arrow building does take some practice and can be time consuming, but if you enjoy picking up new hobbies, archery arrow building might be something worth looking into. You can make some nice arrows from Douglas fir, cedar, pine, spruce and redwood. One way to do it is to take a hatchet and split the dry logs into squares and then whittle them down into arrow shafts using a pocket knife. Once the wood is whittled down, you can use sandpaper or sandstone to round the shafts off. If you make a dozen or so arrows from the same section of log, it will go a long way to making sure each of those arrows have the same spine or stiffness. Willow wands are another excellent source of arrow shafts. Just make sure each shoot is long, straight and strong. You can also use hazel shoots, wild rose shoots or any type of cane in your archery arrow building. When using either logs or shoots, make sure that the wood is not full of knots and are of a uniform length. You also want to make sure that the wood/shoots aren't broken or weakened by anything. When you are done whittling the wood and sanding it flat, you can polish them if you wish. The less wind resistance the better. If you have bumps or other deformities on the shafts, you'll find that they will pick up wind resistance and they'll wobble in flight. It is easier to make short arrows and they require less fletching, don't break as easily and are much easier to carry. Make short arrows whenever possible. Next you can make your nock. A deep nock will tend to weaken the arrow, so a shallow nock is usually best. Just cut a groove in one end of the arrow, and you'll have a serviceable nock. The fletching is probably the hardest part. You want to use good strong feathers, either from a bird like the wild turkey or the eagle. Any feather will do really, but some are better than others. Once you have the feathers, you have to strip them and lash them to the arrow using sinew, dental floss or any other suitable material. The next step in arrow archery building is to make the point. You can either fire harden the point of the existing arrow, or use an artificial arrow head, such as bone or flint. Now you should have a few serviceable arrow heads, and it's time to try them out. If you end up with four or five arrows that fly the same, you did a good job with your archery arrow building. |
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